Skip to main content

Who is my #2 fan?


If you want to join the Casey Lartigue Fan Club, there is already a president and number one fan in it!

You can’t be my number one fan because Eben Appleton has already claimed that title.

How much would it cost to get you to pose in front of a poster with my face on it?

 Okay, so maybe some people would do so for free, if my poster somehow ended up in a mall or book store.

How many of you would want that poster in your home? Yes, my poster is in Eben Appleton’s home in Tennessee.
I can imagine guests coming over, asking, “Wait, who?”
Well, if they know Eben, that means they already know who I am!


Sometimes she praises me so much, I will ask her if I know the Casey Lartigue she is talking about.

 I’m not a singer or a celebrity. So I can’t imagine that anyone would want my poster.


Where did the poster come from? Last year when I was a keynote speaker at the World Youth Rally, they made that poster. I couldn’t believe it! They wanted to feature me as a speaker, and they certainly did that!


Then after I finished speaking, I asked them what they were going to do with the posters. From previous experience, those things get trashed when an event is over. 


After all, who would want such a poster?


I asked if I could have them.


One poster would be for the TNKR office. I wasn't sure where we would put it, but certainly there must be a place for a 6 foot poster featuring the American co-founder. TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee was enthusiastic about it. Perhaps it was because it was the first time I had recommended any kind of a decoration in the office.


The other poster would be for the only person in the world who would want it: Eben Appleton! Of course some drive-by commentators with instant Facebook responses to everything who come to conclusions with little or no information might conclude that I was presumptuous in thinking that anyone would want my poster.


That means you don't know Eben Appleton! 



She came to Seoul in 2017 not to visit Seoul, but to visit TNKR and meet the American co-founder in person.




As I wrote a few months ago,

Have you ever had a fan?

I mean, the kind of fan who is surprised to learn you walk on water--because she thought you could fly.

The kind of fan who reads everything you write, then summarizes it for others who were not lucky enough to have read what you wrote. Then she constantly reminds you about what you wrote.

The kind of fan who even makes a calendar just for you.

Yes, I have that kind of fan, and her name is Eben Appleton!!!!

For the people who get stomachaches when they see other people celebrating life and having fun, I should add:

 * Eben is love. She goes up and down Facebook making nice comments about many people, praising them as being handsome or beautiful, smart, etc. She talks to my family members more often than I do. There might others who think Eben is their #1 fan.

* It isn't just me, okay? She loves TNKR. Such as making this 2020 calendar for us.



Through all of that niceness about others, somehow I always end up being the one she loves the most, I may just be a close or far second to her hubby, Charlie.

I have had fans before. My first ones were back in high school when I wrote "Casey's Corner" for my high school newspaper. I remember in college when I met a student who had my columns on his wall. I have had some other fans over the years.

But they can't compare with Eben Appleton!

Eben wants my autograph on everything. Photos. Articles. Books. Whatever. She replies to everything I post, watches every video, reminds me of the many witty and profound things she thinks I have said or written, shares almost everything I post on Facebook, sends me messages often and waits for me to respond. Sometimes I must tell her: Don't donate more, your monthly donation is already super generous and enough.

So with that six foot poster, should I have even wondered, "Yes, but will she really want this?"

I sent it without letting her know what it was, and she was overjoyed to receive it. She immediately found a place for it in her home (unlike most people who would have tried to figure out how to put in the proper recycling bin).

So if you happen to be one of my fans, let me know. But please recognize that if you want to join the Casey Lartigue Fan Club, there is already a president and number one fan in it!

***

P.S.: Many volunteers give a host of explanations and excuses about why they can't set up a fundraiser for TNKR. Eben has set up four.


Popular posts from this blog

2020-04-26 "May I choose more teachers?" TNKR Matching session #102

2020-04-26, TNKR Matching session #102 The Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR) humbly began in March 2013 with 5 tutors and 5 NK refugees being matched together. We held that first session at a TOZ business center in Gangnam. Seven years later, TNKR has now matched 455 North Korean refugees with 1,027 tutors, coaches, and mentors. Today we held our 102nd Language Matching session at our slightly expanded office near the Sangsu Subway Station. Instead of just being something that Casey and Eunkoo did short-term, TNKR is now an official organization in both South Korea and the USA, we have been featured in media and by other organizations (just yesterday, we were featured by KOTESOL), and we have fans and donors from around the world.
Read more

2020-11-26 My basketball story

This photo was uploaded today by my aunt Annette. This was back in the day, when 1) I had a head full of hair and 2) played basketball a lot. That first year of playing organized basketball, I focused on playing defense. It seemed that everyone wanted to shoot the ball, so I passed the ball and played defense. I probably led the league in steals, rebounds and blocked shots. I enjoyed taking on the best player from the other team, I felt like I would get better, quickly. The second year, I was a different player. I will never forget the first game that second year--we lost 29 to 26, I scored 18 points. I probably led the universe in scoring that second year, although we didn't win much. One thing I learned from that experience is that one great player 9 (at least in his own mind) can't beat a team. An eye injury ended my pro career before it began, to this day I still have floaters in my eyes because of the injury. I started wearing glasses, but the problem never went away. On t...
Read more

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

  National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube
Read more

Mentoring while Black (Korea Times 2/16/2023)

  Mentoring while Black by Casey Lartigue Jr. February 16, 2023 www.patreon.com/caseylartigue
Read more

Chang Ha-Joon's foolish consistency (Korea Times, January 1, 2013)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Is the sky blue? Is the ocean water? If you suspect those are trick questions, you are right. The sky isn’t always blue ― it is reddish at sunset, dark at midnight, gray on an overcast day. The ocean isn’t water ― there’s also fish, plant life, submarines, dissolved minerals, surfboards, sunken ships, even people swimming in it sometimes. As Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell wrote in his 1996 book ``The Vision of the Anointed,” people who use “all-or-nothing” reasoning can deny a statement because it is not 100 percent true in every circumstance. Such word games might be fun for college students or debaters, but there are some distinguished people who are respected for making such childish arguments about serious issues. In his book ``23 Things They Don’t Tell you About Capitalism,” Cambridge University economist Chang Ha-Joon argues that 1) “[T]here is really no such thing as a free market” and 2) “The free market doesn’t exis...
Read more